Fight or Flight
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: After finding a red yukata in the woods and taking it with him, creatures once thought to be part of the Japanese urban myths come alive. As the Pantasia workers struggle to stay out of harm's way, they're eventually forced to choose between the will to fight these creatures or the will to flee and possibly never see each other alive again.
1. Chapter 1

**Author note: I do not own Yakitate! Japan or any Japanese myths that inspired this fanfic.**

**...to try to get back into the spirit of writing, since summer has begun, I have decided to do something I usually don't go into much-and that's the horror genre. XD I'll be using some Japanese myths in this fanfic, so hopefully I get those right...XD**

**Warning: Violence, gore (not graphically described), possible pairings, OCs**

**Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope that you read, review and enjoy! Thanks! XD**

* * *

_He struggled to get up, but the effort was in vain. The legless child looked back at him quietly, crawling over to him using her elbows._

_He observed her quietly, before speaking up._

_"I-is it alright if...if you can teach me?"_

_The young girl looked back at him with a somewhat confused expression._

_"Teach...?"_

_He gestured to her elbows. "The way you walk with your elbows. Please, can you teach me? I..." He looked around. "I can't just stay here. I need to find my friends, and I can't walk with my legs at the moment...Please..."_

_The child paused, before crawling closer to him and positioning his arms so that his elbows were now sticking into the ground. The girl then crawled around so that she was right beside him, before he heard her voice in his head._

**_Watch._**

_Slowly, carefully, she repeated her 'walking' movements with her elbows, one after the other._

_And then, after a moment, he started to do his best to imitate the 'walking,' knowing that if he didn't do anything soon, his friends could die because of him._

* * *

**_Fight or Flight_**

* * *

Why was he doing this?

Why did he decide to go get himself lost?

He didn't really mean to. Honestly, he didn't mean it. He got lost in that beach festival, and then the next thing he knew he was in the woods.

Why was he even at this beach festival again? He just wanted to stay in the beach house and sleep, not stay up all night with Ken Matsushiro and everyone.

Not that he minded, but still. He preferred sleep over staying up too late. That's what he wanted to do when he went on this group vacation with his fellow co-workers, to sleep some more. He didn't get the best amount of sleep whenever he had to stay up late doing paperwork, after all.

Instead, Matsushiro goes and forces him to stay up all night.

This vacation was lasting for a good week. Meister Kirisaki just hoped that he could get some more sleep than usual...as long as he got more sleep, things would be fine.

Right now, though, he was lost in the woods and he needed to find his way back to the festival and back to the others.

The grass crunched underneath his sandal-adorned feet as he walked through the woods, looking around. Oh, why didn't he bring Coo with him, or any of his other birds? He could have sent them ahead to tell him if he was any closer to finding the others or not...

A cold breeze blew past him, and he shivered, wrapping his arms about himself. Wearing only pants and a tank top did not help him, or wearing sandals. He kept a less fanciful version of his mask on (none of his coworkers really seemed to recognize him without it, sadly, except for maybe Kuroyanagi, and besides people were wearing masks at the beach festival for the fun of it, so it would help him blend in) on, his light blue eyes gazing around the woods.

_What do I do...?_

That was when he noticed something nearby.

_Is that a house? In the middle of the woods? How strange..._

He quickly rushed over to the house. If there was a house, it could mean that there were people around. And maybe they could help him...

Unfortunately, he realized soon enough that this 'house' was nothing but some broken down shack. The front door was broken, barely hanging off its hinges, and some of the windows seemed to be boarded up. Despite this, though, curiosity got the better of him, begging him to explore a bit.

_No, I shouldn't, I should get back to the others..._

_Why not? It's not like anyone is living here. Besides, maybe you can find something useful._

Eventually, Meister gave in to temptation. He slowly walked to the shack, taking a small flashlight out of his pocket and turning it on. He mentally facepalmed himself, wondering why he didn't use it earlier, before he tried his best to open the hanging door.

The door fell with a rough thud, the sudden noise scaring him. He let out a soft scream, but he muffled it with one hand, mentally calling himself an idiot.

_Stupid Kirisaki, it's just a door for crying out loud..._

He looked around the interior of the cabin. It was surprisingly quite empty. There was no furniture, except for a chest. He paused, before walking over to the chest and opening it.

Inside the chest lay a red yukata, adorned with some sort of feather design. He looked at it quietly, looking to see if there was any part of it where there might be some sign of someone else owning it, but there was none.

_A yukata? In the woods? All by itself? How strange..._

It would be some nice coverage to protect at least part of himself from the cold wind. And no one else was around...

_But it could be stealing! What if someone else originally owned it?_

But he knew he couldn't just stand here and wait. The dark forest was getting darker, and the night would not be so young anymore. He had to make a choice, now.

He slid on the yukata, whispering an apology to the open air before continuing to try to find the others.

Without him noticing, something stirred.

* * *

He wasn't any closer to finding the others.

...That wasn't good, obviously.

He had to find them-he had to-

That was when he heard the crunch of grass underneath feet that weren't his own. He turned, seeing nothing, but then turned again and realized a woman was standing right in front of him. This alone made him yelp in fright, stepping backwards a bit.

"M-my apologies..." He started, worried that he'd scared this woman, but before he could even finish his sentence the woman spoke up.

"Am I...beautiful?"

He blinked a bit. _Wha...? Wait second..._

The woman in front of him wore a beige trenchcoat, with a one of those surgical masks covering her nose and mouth from view. But it wasn't even cold or flu season yet, which was odd. She had long, long black hair that trailed past her shoulders, perhaps as long as Meister's own hair.

He had a feeling that this was from some familiar urban Japanese myth he'd read about before, so he decided to experiment and answer her.

"Yes."

In one quick movement, the woman ripped off her mask-and Meister's eyes widened at the sight.

The woman's mouth was slit ear to ear. It looked like a permanent smile was on her face, her skin reddened around the scarred smile she had on her face.

"How about..._now?"_

_I know this. I KNOW this. It's...Kuchisake-onna..._

He did not want to get killed, nor get that kind of smile that she did. He couldn't answer yes or no otherwise he could really suffer. And running away wasn't an option, either.

Or was it? There was something he remembered, a rumor as of how to get away from her. He just hoped it worked.

"So-so."

The woman looked confused. "Wha...?"

And immediately Meister took off running.

* * *

"Hey..." Kuroyanagi looked around quietly. He and the other co-workers were at the beach festival. "Where's Meister Kirisaki?"

Matsushiro looked around. "Huh. You're right. I wonder where he-"

That was when Meister ran into Matsushiro, nearly toppling him over. Matsushiro managed to stay upright, though, and grabbed Kirisaki by the shoulders to help him straighten himself. "Kirisaki, where were you?"

"Th-that woman, there-" Meister looked incredibly distressed, panicked. His eyes were wide with absolute fright as he looked around. "She-she's gone...?"

"Was it a fangirl of yours?" Matsushiro joked, chuckling a bit. "I wouldn't be surprised-"

"No, it was Kuchisake-onna!"

Matsushiro started laughing even more, as well as a few others. Meister glared at them a bit.

"I-I'm not kidding! It _was_ her!"

Matsushiro let out a final chuckle, before putting a hand on Kirisaki's shoulder. "Hey, I'm sure you just got frightened or something, being tired from running around looking for us. We were going to head back to the beach houses soon, so I'm sure you won't be hallucinating anytime soon..."

Meister nodded quietly, though he kept looking around.

He thought he saw the woman again. But then before he could speak up, she vanished as soon as she came.

* * *

**Kuchisake-onna (Slit-mouthed Woman): A woman who has her mouth slit so that it resembles a deformed smile. If approached, she will ask if she is beautiful. If you say yes, she will take off the mask she wears and ask it again. If you say yes, she'll give you the same smile she has. If no, she will kill you. Rumors as of how to get away from her include claiming that you have a previous engagement, in which she will apologize and leave, saying 'so-so' or 'maybe' to the second time she asks and run away while she is confused, or tossing candy or fruit at her to slow her down.**


	2. Red Room

_2. Red Room_

Kanmuri let out a sigh as he was typing things into the computer, sitting at a desk.

Azuma blinked a bit. The two were lounging out in their own beach house-there was a beach house for every two people. Tsukino and Kawachi happened to be there as well, to hang out with them. "Kanmuri, you're still doing research?"

"Yeah. But it's about this Kuchisake-onna Meister was freaking out about yesterday night." The scientist responded, continuing to type a bit more. "Another name for her is the 'Slit-mouthed Woman.' She'll look like she's wearing one of those masks during flu season, but underneath the mask is, um..." He winced. "Her mouth is slit from ear to ear. And if you say 'yes' to her if she asks you if she's beautiful while she has her mask off, she'll slit your mouth. And if you say 'no,' she'll kill you." He winced. "I guess Meister probably knew how to evade her-otherwise he would have been injured or killed..."

The bread genius frowned a bit at this.

"Do you think he actually saw Kuchisake-onna?" Tsukino asked. "I mean, she's supposed to be an urban myth..."

Kawachi shrugged. "I don't know. Meister-han could have seen a bear or some other people playing pranks..."

Kanmuri nodded. "That sounds far more possible than the actual Kuchisake-onna appearing..."

Tsukino then remembered something. "Kawachi, uh, I think Manager wanted us to go get food for the barbeque tonight! Right?"

Kawachi nodded. "Yeah, you're right! Azuma, Kanmuri, you want to come along?"

Azuma nodded, hopping off the bed before putting sandals on. "Yeah, sure! Kanmuri...?"

Kanmuri shook his head, still typing. "I'm going to stay here...I have other things I need to check on."

"Okay, we'll be back..."

As the three left the room, Kanmuri accidentally pushed a button that went straight to a web page about a myth that wasn't about Kuchisake-onna.

"The Red Room..?" He let out a sigh. _Another urban myth..._

He moved the cursor so that it would close the window, but then something popped up.

**Do you like...?**

"What the-"

He clicked to close it, but it came up again.

**Do you like...?**

And then he tried to close it again.

**Do you like...?**

And again.

And again.

And then-

**Do you like red...?**

Then-

**Do you like the red...?**

And finally-

**Do you like the red room?**

Kanmuri was then alerted to a presence behind him, _and-_

* * *

Meister sat on the bed in his room quietly, looking at the red yukata in his hands.

Kuroyanagi, meanwhile, was staring at the pieces of white paper hanging from ropes that were tied to the lever that would open the one sole window Meister had in his room, as well as one draped above his doorway.

And Kuroyanagi was also sure that there were grains of salt on the floor right at the doorway entrance and on the windowsil.

And...wait, were those _yaku-yoke amulets _hanging from the ceiling light? Seriously?

"Meister..." Kuroyanagi let out a quiet sigh. "Do you actually think that some sort of evil is going to attack you?"

Meister gave him a look. "Kuroyanagi-kun, I nearly got killed last night by Kuchisake-onna. Do you think I'm going to let it happen again?"

The younger man let out a sigh. "Meister, she won't attack you if you're not outdoors. Same goes for some other myth called Teke-Teke, I think..."

"The bathroom one can still strike. I put a couple of the amulets in there, too."

"You mean Aka Manto? That's never happened...well, at least as far as I know...and unless you want to build your own toilet, you can't avoid going to the washroom."

"I know." He let out a sigh. "I'm just...worried that something bad will happen."

Kuroyanagi paused, walking over to him and sitting on the bed beside him. He glanced at the yukata quietly.

"Where did you get that...?"

The older man paused, before speaking.

"In an abandoned shack in the woods. I got lost in the woods last night and was looking for all of you, but I got cold, and no one seemed to have any possession of the yukata, so...I took it."

Kuroyanagi winced a bit. "I can understand why-it was pretty cold last night, but still."

Meister nodded quietly. "I was thinking of putting it back where it belonged..." He let out a breath, looking downwards as he put the yukata aside. He then embraced Kuroyanagi tightly. "I'm just...worried..."

"Sylvan..."

Meister felt Kuroyanagi touch the side of his masked face, and the General Manager looked up to see Kuroyanagi about to kiss him. He shook his head, pushing the younger man back a little bit.

"No, Ryou."

The two had this relationship that was very much on the fine line between friendship and romance. They had actually kissed each other a few times, but they were just...extremely unsure if they really wanted to be with each other. Kuroyanagi was still reeling years later from his breakup with Cathy, and Meister was slightly uncomfortable with the age difference. They had nearly even hooked up one night, but they managed to stop it before things went too far out of control. They knew if they weren't ready, they shouldn't be doing stuff like that.

And now that fine line was being tested again.

Kuroyanagi looked downwards. "I'm sorry."

The older man shook his head. "It's fine..." He paused, before speaking up again. "Kuroyanagi?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind sleeping beside me? Please? Just for tonight?"

Kuroyanagi knew that his friend/lover was really worried, and anxious and scared. And being the companion he was, he should be providing him comfort even if the fear seemed almost irrational.

"I will."

The two got into bed, covering themselves with the blanket, Meister having removed his mask. Kuroyanagi was tempted to hold Meister's hand at least, but he wasn't sure...

...though that was answered by the older man grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently, once.

Kuroyanagi succumbed to sleep, after squeezing Meister's hand in return, for reassurance.

* * *

The room was splattered in blood, which was pooling from a corpse. The corpse, whose chest was ripped out as if he'd been sent to be slaughtered by wild dogs. No one could recognize who it was until they noticed the pink hair, stained with red. The only things in the room that weren't covered in blood were white carnations, scattered around the room.

Tsukino dropped the groceries she'd been holding, completely frozen.

"Kanmuri..." Kawachi trailed off, before he noticed the laptop screen showing a pop-up.

**Do you like the red room?**

Without warning, the laptop turned off by itself.

* * *

**Author note: Yaku-yoku amulets are Japanese charms that are supposed to ward away evil. And apparently salt wards away evil, too, though I don't know if just simply placing it somewhere helps... Same with the paper attached to ropes tied around something...that's called a shimenawa, I think...**

**Also, white carnations mean death according to the Japanese.**

**Alive: Kuroyanagi, Meister, Matsushiro, Kawachi, Shachihoko, Tsukino, Azuma, Monica, Kai, Sophie**

**Dead: Kanmuri**


	3. Visions

_3. Visions_

"He's...dead?"

Kawachi nodded slowly. "I don't know what happened while we were gone. We just came back and we found him like that..."

Kuroyanagi winced at this, glancing at Meister, who was sitting on a bench nearby. "He's not going to take it well-he's already shaken from apparently being chased by the Slit-mouthed Woman, and now this..."

"I know..." Kawachi paused, before speaking up. "Hey, we've still got the rest of the vacation, right?" He glanced at Meister for a moment. "Hey, since you two are so close and stuff, maybe you should take him out on a date."

Kuroyanagi shook his head. "It's not that simple, Kawachi. First off, we're technically not in a relationship and second, he's already shaken up from yesterday night. The last thing I want happening to him is that he gets completely freaked out and stuff. He's already hanging a whole bunch of charms and sprinkling salt everywhere..." He then glanced to where Meister was, before realizing- "He's gone!"

"What!?" Kawachi turned to see that Kuroyanagi was right. "That's definitely not good...unless maybe he went back to your place?"

Kuroyanagi stood, rushing off. "I'll check there, but I really doubt he's there..."

Shachihoko, who had been eavesdropping on them, thought for a moment.

"...Wasn't he sayings something about being chased by Kuchisake-onna? He came from the woods screaming that time, right?"

He then grabbed his jean jacket, heading to the forest.

* * *

Meister rushed through the forest quietly, before he stopped, panting a bit as he held the red yukata in his arms.

"I knew there had to be something wrong," He muttered as he looked around. "Something must be wrong, I shouldn't have taken the yukata..."

Yes, he was sure that grabbing the yukata the other night was definitely not a good idea by now. And so he opted to return it back to where it came from. Would this prevent other people from dying? Perhaps so, perhaps not. He could only try.

After minutes of running, pausing to take a breath, then running again, he managed to stumble his way back to the run-down cabin. There was no one in sight as far as he knew of, and that was good. He didn't want any of his coworkers following him, in fear that all of them were going to ask him for an explanation of what's going on. Or blame his actions for Kanmuri's death.

He opened up the chest, folding the yukata neatly before putting it in the chest.

"There," He muttered quietly. "I did it, I put it back. Is that what you want? Do you just want it back? It's back, now..." He straightened himself, letting out a breath as he looked around anxiously. Maybe he should close the chest-

And that was when he realized he couldn't move, stuck standing where he was. He tried to move, but the effort was completely in vain.

_D-damn...what now? What do they want-if spirits are the things hanging around here? What do they want!?_

That was when a figure rose from the chest, wearing the red yukata. It was a woman, with no face or distinguishable part of her save for crimson eyes that glared up at him.

Before he could even attempt to scream, she leapt at him, a snarl escaping her throat.

* * *

Shachihoko looked around the forest.

"Come on..." He muttered, looking around before cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling. "HEY, MEISTER! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

There was no response. The Nagoya-fanatic groaned, facepalming himself. "Dang, this is going to be harder than I thought. How big are these woods, anyway? Maybe he went off the path?"

That was when he heard the scream.

An instinct told him that it was _him, _that he was in _danger._

And so Shachihoko ran deeper into the woods, going completely off the trail.

* * *

_"Shoko, Shoko! Come on!"_

The yukata he was wearing was the same, but the body was not his-it was of a woman, far younger than him with long hair, dyed ash blonde...

_"What is it, Keiichi!?" _He found himself speaking, the voice not his own. _"I swear, if you push me into a river again, I'll beat the daylights out of you!"_

_"No, no, it's not that!" _The handsome young man in front of him (Meister would admit the man was handsome, with short, dark hair) laughed a bit. _"Here. We're here..."_

Meister felt himself looking around. Instead of the haunted, creepy forest that he had been running around in to put the yukata back where it belonged, instead the shack was a neatly built cabin, a stream nearby where there was once a dried up trail.

_"It's beautiful, Keiichi..."_

Keiichi grinned. _"It's for you. I found this place, so while you were in the cave I built this the best as I could...we can live here, Shoko. We'll be free."_

A giggle escaped Meister's lips. _"Thank you, Keiichi...you've done so much..." _He felt himself embrace him. _"I love you..."_

_"I love you, too-"_

**"I FOUND YOU."**_  
_

Meister remembered feeling himself turning behind him to see what was going on before screaming and screaming and screaming and screaming-

...

-and his world went black.

* * *

"Meister? Meister!"

He woke up to see Shachihoko helping him sit up, a concerned look on the Nagoya fan's face.

"Hey, you okay? Everyone is looking for you!" Shachihoko winced, looking around. "I think I'm the only one who guessed you'd come running back here to the woods, though...I saw you randomly stumbling about and screaming about something, I forget what it was...and then you just collapsed a minute ago."

"O-oh." Meister got up, brushing a few leaves out of his hair and realizing that he still wore the yukata. "My apologies, I thought..."

_Tek._

"Huh?" Shachihoko looked around. "What was that?"

Meister blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Do you hear-"

_TEK._

The General Manager's eyes widened.

"N-no..."

_Tek tek tek..._

Shachihoko seemed to pale in an instant. "No way...Teke-teke can't exist..."

_Tek tek tek tek tek tek tek-_

Meister instinctively grabbed Shachihoko's hand, pulling him out of the way-

-and helped him to barely avoid the scythe's blade that sunk into the ground.

The being holding it, however, didn't have any trouble pulling it out. If this being was, say, a grown man with enough strength, that would make sense.

But the figure was not a man.

The figure pulling the scythe's blade out of the ground was a young girl. And she had no body parts waist down.

Meister backed away slowly, his breath caught in his throat for a moment, before he slowly spoke.

"Teke...teke..."

Shachihoko's eyes widened, and he took a step back. The two just stood there, almost paralyzed at the sight of the half-girl.

Teke-teke merely stared back at them.

Then Shachihoko screamed.

_"RUN!"_

* * *

The two rushed through the forest, trying their hardest not to trip over branches or let themselves run into trees.

They did not want to die.

But Teke-teke was gaining on them, and that wasn't good.

"Where do we go!?"

"Out of the woods, right!?"

"Wait...wait.." Meister stopped running, panting a bit as he looked around. "If I'm correct.."

"Don't stop running! Otherwise she's gonna kill us!" Shachihoko screamed, stopping in his tracks and turning towards Meister. "What is it!?"

"Indoors."

"What!?"

"She only attacks people when they're outdoors, if I'm correct...we have to get back to that cabin! Follow me!"

Thankfully for them, it was not long before they reached the cabin. The two dashed inside just as they heard Teke-teke getting closer...

_Teke teke teke teke teke teke teke teke-_

_"CLOSE THE DOOR!" _

Shacihoko had no idea how frantic Meister was by now, but he was sure that the older man had better ideas of what to do at the moment than he did. The two of them quickly pushed the door into a closed position the best they could, before they started putting up whatever they could grab to use to help as a barricade-the chest that once held the yukata that Meister was now wearing, a wooden closet, even the ruins of what used to be a makeshift bed.

And they waited.

...

...

...

There was nothing.

"Do yo-"

"Shush."

They waited still.

And there was nothing.

Finally, after what seemed like a long time, Meister spoke up.

"I think we lost her."

Shachihoko grinned weakly. "Nice call. We didn't die..."

The older man couldn't help but grin faintly at that. "Thanks." He took off the yukata, looking at it quietly. "I had a vision earlier while I was trying to put this yukata back where it belonged."

"You did?" The Nagoya fan's curiosity was piqued. "Do you want to tell me about it..?"

"Not now. I'd rather not think of it."

"Oh."

There was silence, before Shachihoko spoke up again.

"...I should call the others, tell you that we're okay and that we'll meet up with them by morning." He tried to turn on his cellphone...and realized it was broken. "Damn. Just like the horror movies."

Meister winced. "Too much like the horror movies."

* * *

**Teke-teke: People say that this creature, who looks like a girl with no lower body, appeared as a vengeful spirit after a horrid accident involving her being in the path of a train and causing her to be chopped in half, literally. As far as I know, Teke-teke will only strike if you are outdoors at night...**


End file.
